Kick Me
by Gandalf3213
Summary: Iggy has always been left out. His voice was never heard by the rest of the group. Why is it only when he is captured by Erasers they hear him?
1. Thoughts

**I don't own Maximum Ride. I hope you already knew that.**

Kick Me.

Iggy hadn't known the words were there. How could he? It wasn't like he could look in the mirror and see them if he turned around. He had thought that the kicking was because there were so many kids in the halls.

It was always crowded. Through the jumble of noises Iggy couldn't make out the one sound he was looking for. The dull scrape of Fang's boots over the cold tile floor. He'd stand there like an idiot for a minute or so until Fang came over, brushing against him so he'd know which way to go.

The teachers were too sympathetic. They tried to make things "easier" for him when all they did was make him stand out. The worst part was chemistry, when the teacher looked over and told him that he shouldn't be handling the chemicals. He'd probably mixed more dangerous substances (and had them injected into his body) then anybody else.

The Gasman had met up with him at break. He was the one who told him about the sign on his back and had offered to beat the guys into a pulp. Instead they had let off a stink bomb and were sent to the office.

Even the secretary treated him different. He could tell by the hesitation in her voice and her insistence to lead him to a chair. Iggy could have just followed Gasser.

It wasn't just school either. The gang knew enough to leave him alone or face his wrath but that didn't mean they trusted him. Like when Angel had gone missing. He had been left behind.

He hated not being able to see. It would have been easier if he had been born that way, but he _remembered_ colors. He remembered being able to see his friends, being able to tell the difference between a flight of stairs and a wooden door. Remembered being able to read, for however brief of time he was able to do it.

But he had adjusted. He hadn't let the disability govern his life. He had gotten over it.

Apparently he hadn't. If those two words were able to sum him up like that. If they were able to cut right through whatever barriers he had put up to protect himself from people who didn't understand.

Everybody did it without even realizing. Max when she left him out... Fang when he pushed over a pile of papers before he remembered... Nudge when she was talking about the characteristics of a person or place she'd seen. Teachers... kids... adults.

Kick Me.

**More chapters, this is just my Ig. Review?**


	2. Flying

**I don't own Maximum Ride. Duh.**

"Max, where's the frying pan?"

Iggy was too frustrated to look for the pan himself. He hated motels ― yeah, they were more comfortable then sleeping outside, but they're all different. Every one of them. The Gasman usually helped him cook in the morning, or Nudge would hand him the stuff while she was yammering about something, but both of them had taken off for a quick morning flight before breakfast, leaving Iggy, Total, Angel (because Max didn't want her going off again) and the Great Leader herself.

Angel padded up. She was the quietest, next to Fang. "There it is, Ig, in the top cabinet."

Iggy sent a quick smile of thanks in her general direction before reaching up to the top cabinet and pulling down a small frying pan. He set in on the counter and waited as Angel wordlessly gathered the two-dozen eggs Fang had gotten for the occasion of having money. He waited for her, glad for once that it wasn't Gazzy or Nudge, who would both be talking. He wanted to steam right now.

They were moving. Again. After Max had gotten out of Itex, they had re-grouped. Turned out that Angel had heard someone think about the location of...something. They didn't know exactly what was in Montana, just that it was important to the future of Itex, which meant they ha do destroy it. So they were moving from Florida to Montana.

It's a long trip, even if you do have wings.

And it didn't help that they had a group of Erasers trailing them, led by the indestructible Ari. They had lost the Erasers two days ago on their way through Georgia. Iggy was sure they wouldn't be lost for long.

"Iggy, Angel, _move_."

Max was flying into the kitchen, tossing Angel bags. She hurriedly passed a few to Iggy, who ran towards the door.

"Window, Ig!" Max shouted, spinning him in the right direction as she glanced around for Total.

Iggy ran in the direction of the window he had noticed the night before. He hoped it was big enough for him, and not made of very strong glass.

The shattering caught him by surprise. He hadn't known the window was so _thin_. Glass cut into his sides and arms. Blood trickled down his shirt from a cut on his neck.

He heard Angel scream. He wished he knew what they were running from, though he thought he could guess.

Iggy paused in mid-air for a fraction of a second, letting Max get in front. He didn't know this area. He couldn't lead anyone anywhere.

They were off again. Fast. Iggy's sensitive ears picked up the lopsided flapping of a Eraser's wings and knew that they were gaining on them, though he didn't know how far away they were.

Then Angel screamed, and Iggy knew exactly where the Erasers were.

**Reviews are nice...**


	3. Gone

**I own nothing.**

Max turned around to see six ― no, eight Erasers flying towards Angel and Iggy. She turned around, flying towards two Erasers and knocking into them with the force of a freight train. They were out of the sky in a second.

Iggy was battling two at once, and he seemed to be on top of things, at least for now. Max turned her attention to Angel who had an Eraser on all four sides. With a well-placed punch Max managed to fell one. Angel was also lashing out, put her punches did little against the brute force of the Erasers.

A tug on her hair made Max whip around. Two of them were on her, holding her arms and evidently trying to fly off with her. Max's eyes narrowed and she flew straight up at an alarming speed, making both of them let her go. She let her self drop back down, hitting both Erasers smartly on the head.

Angel had several long scratches on her face, but Max was pleased to see that she had gotten rid of the remaining Eraser. "Get out of here, Angel. Find Fang!" Max screamed at her, looking wildly around for Iggy.

He wasn't in sight.

Panicked, Max shot higher into the air, hoping to spot him. A hundred meters to her right Max saw a helicopter. She zoomed towards it, getting to the spot just as it started flying. She kept up easily, peering into the windows. She caught a flash of white before the door was opened and a heavy something was lobbed at her.

Too slow to dodge it, Max took the object full force in the chest. She started spiraling down, fast.

The forest ground was hard. The small forest that surrounded the area seemed to grow out of a soil made out of different sized stones. Max lay there for a moment, dazed, thinking unhappily about telling the group that they'd lost Iggy.

A rustle of wings preceded a face thrust into hers. "You look like crap." Fang commented, studying her.

"Thanks." Max spat, as she sat up. They were all looking at her intently and Max swallowed hard. She couldn't do this. How would she start?

The Gasman simplified it. "Max, where's Iggy?" he asked innocently, looking around as though his friend would pop out of the trees.

Max took a deep breath. "Erasers took him. In a helicopter. I tried to get him out but then I got hit with...something."

"A crowbar." Fang said, picking up the object which had landed ten feet away. He got back to Max and knelt next to her, his eyes running over her body, making sure she was alright.

"So..." Nudge spoke up for the first time. "Why Iggy?"

**Review please?**


	4. Cages

**I own nothing**

Iggy started into consciousness. He blanched at the smell of chemicals and disinfectant, a combination he was so used to when he was at...the School!

His sightless eyes roved around the room as he felt around. Bars of a cage...about four feet long and three feet wide, only two feet high. It was cramped, especially for his six-foot frame. He groaned, sitting up against the bars.

Iggy started checking his bones, making sure they all worked and were all there. He wouldn't put anything past the white coats. He opened his wings a little, letting them out and feeling his cramped muscles protest. There was a long vertical slash half-way down his left wing, though Iggy couldn't reach back far enough to tell how bad it was.

The door opened and the hard, strong, familiar footsteps came into the room. Iggy's face hardened as he heard a laugh. "What do you want from me, Ari?" he spat. A rattle came and Iggy dodged back enough so that the large hand wouldn't touch his wings. It had always been a favorite game for Ari to try to grab one of their feathers.

"Hello Ig, having fun?" Ari's mutated seven-year-old voice came out hard and low.

Iggy forced himself to stare in the direction of the sound. "Not really, no. And you?" He tried to make his voice as sarcastic as possible, finding that the sound covered up his fear.

Another laugh. "I bet I'm better then you. Know why you're here, bird-brain?"

Iggy shook his head "no" before saying lightly. "I bet you'll tell me about it in a hundred words or more."

He could hear the scowl in his voice as Ari went on. "You're the first one slated for extermination. Some of the guys here decided that your _family_ was worthless. You just happened to be at the top of their list. Lucky you."

Iggy forced a laugh. "So just death then? Can't come up with anything better?"

He heard the footsteps walk away before a comment came again. "I would be looking forward to death if I were you. They still want to figure out how you guys lasted so damn long. Experimenting should start in a couple of hours."

Iggy winced as he heard the slam of the door, left alone again in his silent cell. He wished Max were here. Or anyone, in fact. He'd even take Nudge and her yammering, because right now, his heart was beating double-time. Experimentation? Hadn't they done enough to them already?

He curled in a ball, letting his wings droop slightly so they poked out of the cage. He couldn't fit any other way. Before sleep engulfed him he had time to wonder vaguely where the Flock was.

**Review?**


	5. Memories

**I don't own it. **

Fang hit a tree, not noticing the scraped and bleeding knuckles he'd received. He had just talked to Iggy this morning. Well, not really talked. They fought this morning. And Fang had said...not-so-nice things. Then he'd left.

It was so stupid, too. Fang was the first one awake, but since he and Iggy were sharing a bed, his movements woke Iggy. "What time is it?" Iggy had muttered, staggering into an upright position and picking his way out the door.

"Early." Fang had replied, and suddenly had the overwhelming urge to fly. "Listen, nobody's awake yet. Want to go for a quick warm-up flight before breakfast?"

Iggy had nodded, smiling some. They went out the door, hurrying down the flights of stairs before bursting through the front door. Fang took off first, then looked down, watching Iggy go. "Tree!" he warned, and Iggy swooped to miss it. Fang laughed. He had felt so free.

Then came the stupid part. They were racing, unofficially. Iggy's wings were just skimming his, the tips just meeting. Fang, too caught up in the race, knew instantly a way to win. He put on a sudden burst of speed, then flipped up, doing a backwards loop. He plummeted down, skimming the surface of a lake before rocketing back up, just out of hearing distance. He won ― to win you had to get at least a hundred yards ahead of all of your opponents.

Then he looked back, and saw that Iggy looked scared. "Fang!" Iggy was looking down to where Fang had started falling. "Fang, are you alright?"

Sighing, Fang went back to Iggy. "I'm fine, and I won."

Iggy jumped, if it was possible to jump while flying. His face showed first relief, then anger. "That's not the way to win."

"So I cheated, I still won." Fang was angry, too. He was suddenly sick of Iggy. He wanted to fly alone. "Just because you didn't see the win..." it was a stupid, cowardly come back, and it made Fang feel instantly guilty, especially when Iggy's expressive face registered pain.

"Fine." Iggy had retorted. He started flying back the way they had come. Fang flew in the opposite direction, knowing he'd have to cool off before he saw Iggy again. Then he'd apologize. Maybe.

Fang blinked at the memory, and realized that tears were leaking out of his eyes. He wiped them away impatiently, going back to Max and the others, his face set.

"We have to find Iggy." He said defiantly. "Now."

**Review? Please?**


	6. Tests

**I don't own Max. **

Iggy blinked as a man walked in. It was definitely a man, his footsteps said as much. Iggy drew a wing over his head, both to stop the uncontrollable shivering and to keep the man from seeing his pain. God, he hadn't felt this bad in years. The pain was so intense he wished he would pass out, just to make it stop. He wished he would die.

The cage door opened. Because the space was so confined Iggy fell out, landing on his shoulder. He glared up at the man, though another wave of nausea washed through his body. "A little bit of a warning would have been nice."

The man said nothing. Nobody had said anything directly to him since Ari, and he had no idea how long ago that had been. It could have been an hour, or a week. There was no way to measure the passing of time.

The man started walking away, and Iggy followed him, working to keep up. All his body wanted to do was stop, slow down. Instead, Iggy kept up, trying to keep the pain off his face. He wouldn't give the whitecoats the satisfaction of knowing they had gotten to him.

They reached a door. The man prodded Iggy into the room. From what Iggy could tell, it was large, about two stories tall. There were walls in the middle that didn't reach the ceiling.

With a sudden realization, Iggy knew where he was. Angel had described it to them after they had rescued her from the School the last time. It was a maze, and Iggy would have to navigate it. Angel had the advantage of reading minds, knowing the maze before she got in it. Iggy had no such luck.

Another man grabbed Iggy's hand, leading his roughly to the entrance of the maze. Iggy was tired and sick, but he knew that not running this maze well would mean death. Death was bad.

A buzzer sounded and Iggy took off into the maze, one arm stretched in front and the other on his left, skimming the wall, looking for openings. He took the first turn available, ran past two more turns before moving to his right. A moment of indecision caused the floor to burn beneath his bare feet.

Another turn, a dead end. Iggy went back, retraced his steps. He hoped that there were no Erasers in this maze.

A right. Another right. A left. A dead end. It went on like that for what seemed like forever before Iggy finally stumbled out of the maze and collapsed. He heard mutterings all around him.

"Extraordinary...only four and a half minutes...you sure he's blind?...get it set up again..."

Iggy wasn't paying attention. He mindlessly rubbed his burnt feet, not making any move to get up again. A person came near to him, offering water which Iggy sucked down gratefully. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink since he'd been brought to the School.

Iggy wasn't ever going to get up again. If it had been up to him he would have sat on that dirty floor until he died, but the whitecoats did come for him and position him at the front of the maze, and the whole thing happened all over again.

As the buzzer sounded this time, Iggy let his mind drift to the Flock. They would be here soon, he knew it. They wouldn't leave him. Right?

His mind was on autopilot now. He no longer felt his feet. His entire body was numb. Iggy's last thought was, _I hope Fang gets here soon_.

**Review...**


	7. Anger

**I own it not.**

Max looked over at Fang, flying silently as always. She banked, letting herself be brought back to Fang. "Want to talk about it?"

Fang grunted. "There's nothing to talk about."

Rolling her eyes, Max wondered how any one person could be so incredibly stupid. "Iggy's gone. There's a lot to talk about. Even the Gasman isn't acting as weird as you are, and I think he's dropped about sixteen bombs today."

Fang flew off to his left. He didn't need this. Max was trying to help, but all she really did was make it worse. He wanted to cry. Fang had never cried, or at least not in front of the rest of the Flock. Emotions rushed through him, so intense they were painful.

He may love Max, but if Fang was "close" to anyone in the Flock, it would be Iggy. They were closest in age, only a month apart as far as they could tell. They also liked a lot of the same things ― rock music, writing, teasing Max. And he and Iggy had spent seven years of their lives in the same cage. You get close to a guy after that.

And being without Iggy...God, it was tearing him apart. Not to feel Iggy's wing on his, mimicking his movements, not to see Iggy work out a problem, faster than most scientists.

Everyone else was quiet. Nudge wasn't talking a hundred words a second. The Gasman did almost nothing, not even eat. He just through bomb after bomb at the endless plains below. Angel was crying. Fang didn't know what Max was feeling. She was always on a different level, never showing emotions. Aloof.

Fang let his mind wander. Flying did that to you, the repetitive, easy motion of wings put you in a Zen state, which let Fang remember a time four years ago when they first found the house in Colorado.

_Fang sat on the roof. It was so open. He'd never been outside the grounds of the School, and now here they were, free. With nobody chasing them. Six of them, all out. Plus Jeb. Jeb would take care of all of them. He'd already begun teaching them how to fight. _

_A small noise next to him made Fang turn around fast enough to see Iggy making his way down the roof. "Watch out, there's a ―"_

_Too late, Iggy tripped over the crooked roof tile. Fang reached out and grabbed him around the waist just before he went over the edge. "Thanks. I could've done that myself." Iggy muttered, sitting next to Fang. _

_Fang smiled smugly. "Saved time. So, you like it?"_

_Iggy breathed in deeply, his face a picture of pure joy. "It smells wonderful. It's so open, and I can hear _everything_. Like, about fifty yards to our right is a small hawk, and just past him is a squirrel. It just goes on forever."_

_Fang looked at him admiringly. He didn't think he'd be able to cope with not having sight, but Iggy stepped up to the challenge, making him see the world in a different way. _

"_What's it look like?"_

_Fang smiled. "It's amazing. There's mountains everywhere, and they're this reddish-orange color. And the trees are so high!" He smiled at his brother, finding him with his eyes closed, his wings stretched out slightly to catch the wind. "It looks like paradise, Iggy."_

**Review. Please.**


	8. Dying

**I don't own them.**

Iggy was sure that he was dying.

He kept coughing up blood. It must be blood because he hadn't eaten _anything_ since he had been captured. His stomach seemed to be eating itself and hurt so much he wanted to curl up, which he couldn't in the cramped cage. Worst of all, about four hours ago someone had come and snipped off some of his feathers. This small event had made Iggy feel so vulnerable and so, so angry.

Iggy tried not to show his pain. He bit his lip, feeling blood trickle into his mouth, and tried to think of what Max would do in his place. Probably insult anyone within a mile of her and general be an unwilling test subject. Fang probably would have bitten the arm off of whatever guy had the misfortune of giving him the poisons.

Which is why one whitecoat left Iggy's room with a bleeding wrist and another with a broken nose. It was also why Iggy's arm had been broken.

So now he was dying, alone, in a cage like a dog instead of a fourteen-year-old human. He was currently trying to convince himself that the Flock was coming, that they'd get him out like Angel, but that hope was fading fast.

Ari had stopped by. He had told Iggy…well, he had told him a lot of things, none of them very nice and most of them involving dying in some painful way…anyway, he'd told Iggy that the Flock had been captured, all of them, and they were in the School too.

So there was no rescue party coming for him.

Iggy coughed up another pint of bird blood. His heart was pounding in his ears, his head was spinning. The expiration date, the one that Ari had told him about, was it coming? Was today his death day?

He ran a hand on the back of his neck as if he could feel the tattoo that supposedly appeared there, wishing foolishly that he had a mirror, which wouldn't have helped at all, of course.

Iggy slumped back against the bars of the cage. He lifted his head up. When they had been at that church in New York they had prayed to…someone. The exact facts were a little hazy. Apparently, someone had died a long time ago and created heaven, or something like that. Anyway, the reason he was thinking about this guy at all was, he was scared stiff.

"Hey, God? If you're really up there, get m out of this." Then he remembered the tattoo, the death day. Even if he was out, he would die anyway. "Wait, never mind that. Just get the others out. Please?" He was on a roll now, the words tripping out of his mouth. "And help Max save the world, and Gasman make bombs, and Nudge to stop talking, and Angel and Total and…and Fang."

Burning anger rushed through him. It was the first time he'd said Fang's name out loud. He had often (though it was embarrassing to admit) talked out loud to other members of the Flock, even Total, but never Fang.

And he was still so angry at him, even when dying he still remembered his indifferent voice, horribly flippant.

Iggy suddenly wished Fang was there.

And then he started crying.

**Review? Pretty please?**


	9. Saved

**I own it not.**

Fang no longer cared about plans.

The School was in sight. He knew the general idea, that the younger ones would make a diversion, that he and Max would try to get inside in the chaos, split up and meet back outside in ten minutes no matter what.

Max had stressed that part. "No matter what, Fang. That means Iggy or no Iggy." She seemed severe and cross and Fang suddenly wondered whether Max cared for Iggy at all. It was a disconcerting thought and he pushed it to the back of his mind for now. He'd re-examine it later.

They hovered over the School for a millisecond, then the Gasman dropped the biggest, loudest bomb in his arsenal and all Hell broke loose.

It was kind of like watching a really bad play. People came out of every door, looked out of every window, started running and screaming and pointing at first the broken building, then the smoke, then finally at Nudge, Angel and the Gasman who were now dive-bombing them. Fang and Max were already inside, having beaten one of the window-gazers into submission and taking over their window.

Fang automatically went to the left. He felt drawn there, not knowing why. He passed by various now-empty rooms without a second glance. Then he turned into one particular room and he was _there_.

At first, he hadn't known if the room was occupied or not. It was just caged, rows of them, the same ones, probably, that they had lived in all those years. A flash of white brought him to the last one on the row.

The cage was much too small for Iggy. His wings were dripping over the sides, their pure white tainted with dirt and blood. Fang rushed to the door of the cage.

"Ig? Iggy? Please wake up." Fang's voice cracked. Something had died inside of him at the sight of his best friend like this, stuffed into a cage like an animal, beaten and bloody and...was he?...was he really dead?

Fang poked a hand through the bars and gently brushed Iggy's reddish-white hair away from his bruised face. He stirred at the touch, eyes opened blearily and a hand swatted his away.

"Please, no...not again. Please." Iggy moaned, writhing with pain under Fang's gentle touch. Fang flared with anger. What had they done to Iggy? What had happened?

Fang examined the lock, found that there was no way in hell he could open it, and murmured softly, "Iggy, it's Fang, can you move back? I'm just trying to get you out." When Iggy didn't react, Fang wondered if they had messed with his hearing too. Deaf and Blind.

But then Iggy opened both sightless eyes. "Fang?" The word was full with relief...and anger...and pain. Fang had hoped Iggy had forgotten their last encounter. Or that he had forgiven him.

"Yeah, it's me, please don't talk, you're okay, just move back." He took a deep breath before prying the bars open. Sweat formed on his forehead with the effort but there was at last a hole just big enough for the thin boy to work through.

Fang half-pulled Iggy, who seemed to have lost all feeling in his legs after his imprisonment. Iggy would have collapsed but for Fang, who finally got a good look at him.

A huge, purple-green bruise covered one side of his face making one eye swell shut, various scratches covered the other. His clothes had been torn in several places and Fang saw that Iggy, though he had always been thin, was now nearly emancipated, ribs very near to the surface of the skin. More bruises covered his chest and lower torso. His legs didn't seem to work anymore. One arm stuck out at a strange angle. His wings were lopsided.

Fang pulled Iggy out of the room. Iggy could only stumble along behind. He could hear shouts from outside. Not much time. There was a window at the end of the corridor. Fang glanced at Iggy, who seemed to be nearly unconscious. "Can you do a quick U and A, then fly about four yards out before going straight up?"

Iggy nodded just before they burst through the window. Fang maintained his hold on one of Iggy's arms until they were completely outside. He let go, whirling around, emitting a high, nearly inaudible whistle that made the Erasers go nuts and drew the rest of the Flock to his side.

With Max and Fang supporting a now-unconscious Iggy, the Flock ran ― well, flew ― away, not looking back.

**Please review.**


	10. Love

**I own them not.**

"Oh, Ig..Iggy..."

He was floating between waking and unconsciousness, aware only of the large, caloused hands that was stroking his hair, of the high, frigtened voices that seemed to surround him, and the cool washcloth that was being pressed to his arm.

"Gerroff me, Max, 'm allright." Iggy's voice was mumbled and he tried to raise a hand to his face. Max pinned it down. He felt tiny droplets of hot tears fall onto it as their leader cried over him. He felt embarrased and turned his head in the direction of Fang. "What's the matter?" He had nearly forgotten that he hated Fang. Nothing really seemed to matter when Max started crying.

Fang's hands glided through Iggy's short spiked hair. "You're pretty messed up, Iggy." he muttered softly. "They...they did some horrible..." his words broke off and Iggy had the sudden impression of Fang's face as it had been years ago, scared, terrified, as he left their shared cage for another one of the whitecoat's experiments.

Suddenly a head rested on his chest. Iggy had to bite back an excalmation of pain when the young boy touched his broken ribs. He managed to free his arm and stroke the Gasman's feathery hair. "Hey Gasser, you're not crying, are you?"

"No." The word was thick with tears and the small hand wrapped itself around Iggy's broken fingers. Iggy hissed in pain, causing the Gasman to drop them and back away. Iggy could picture his scared face. "It's okay, you didn't hurt me." Iggy lied, motioning for the young boy to come back.

"Iggy, what happened?" Nudge, obviously, "You look real tired, and a lot of things are broken." he could feel her hands skimming his wings and wished she wouldn't. He didn't want her to feel what he felt right now. Pain, anger, frustration, pain, betrayal, pain, guilt, pain. He groaned. "You look really hungry. Can he eat, Max?"

At the mention of food Iggy tried to sit up straight. His enhanced DNA made him more hungry than ever, since his metabolism was so fast and he needed to burn so many calories to fly even a short distance. A wave of diziness engulfed him and he sank back into Fang's waiting arms. "No more doing that, buddy, not for a while."

His soothing, familiar voice comforted Iggy and he found, to his embarrasment, that tears were pooling in his eyes. Every emotion he had felt while in that stupid cage came flooding back to him in one moment. He used his working arm to brush the tears away. They were replaced by more.

Fang enveloped him in a hug that was gentle enough not to deisturb his bruised, broken, and bleeding body, yet firm enough to prove that he was there and to convey his feelings. "I'm sorry," Fang whispered, meaning so many things. _I'm sorry for being a jerk, I'm sorry the whitecoats hurt you, I'm sorry you're in pain...I'm sorry._

Angel was suddenly next to him. "Iggy," she said, sounding serious and much older than six, "Iggy, did they ever tell you _why_ you were taken? 'Cause usually, you know, they want Max."

Another memory came flooding back, Ari, jeering at him through the bars of his cage, _"You're the first slated for extermaination."_ Suddenly his hunger didn't matter, his fear and pain didn't matter. he sat up straight. "Fang." he said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Fang, is there anything on my neck?"

Iggy could sense the Flock's strange, startled looks, "Why?" Fang asked, and Iggy had a sudden flash of furrowed eyebrows and a small, habitual frown. But the next moment Iggy could feel Fang's fingers on his neck. He knew that Ari must have been lying, but still...if he could only know...

And exclamation of pain and grief so strong and sad made Iggy's hair on the back of his neck stand up. Fang was huggin him again. Max was there too, and the Gasman, Nudge patted his hair comfortingly. Angel reached out with her mind, trying to calm everyone's grief. It was useless, they all knew the truth. Iggy was the first to die, and he only had days to live.

They stayed huddled around the blind boy for...nobody really knew how long. Eventually everyone dispersed, looking for food or fisrt-aid, leaving Fang alone with Iggy. Fang was still crying. Iggy was beyond tears. He had one question left, one that was so important to him, "Fang? Are you...will you...you'll stay with me, right? Until the end?"

he felt Fang's nod, heard his deep, rattling, calming breath, "Until the end."

**Fin.**


End file.
